~ Joyful, Feminine, Catholic

Smorgasbord ‘n’ Smidgens III

I love pictures! Before the digital world I was not very good at being organized enough to get the camera clicking, get it to the store, develop them…..life was too busy back then, and pictures were not on the top of my priority list.

Then the digital world came…..digital cameras!!!!!I was STILL lousy at it. I always forgot the camera, never had the batteries charged and when I did get it together to take pictures, I couldn’t be bothered putting them on the computer.

THEN I got my phone. There have been so many times I have wanted to go back to the old flip-phone but the biggest thing that stops me is the constant access to a pretty darn good camera. And I love it! I have captured many moments that the kids will be able to look back on and remember…..

That being said here are PICTURES!! Click on the first one to visit the gallery.

And after you are done looking don’t forget the links at the bottom of the post!

Mike and Jeanette’s little Agnes….so precious!!

Mike, our son-in-law, teaching Agnes how to say grace!

Mike, Jeanette and Agnes.

Mike teaching Agnes to pray at Church.

Emma and Nathaniel….Virginia’s youngest two.

Vinnie, our son-in-law in the trenches with Emma!

Emma and Grace….two loveable grandchildren!

Vinnie and Johnny

Edward and Emma

Vinnie having a great time with his kiddos….

Cowboy Tony.

Theresa is telling the family they are expecting #3!!

Sunday evening playing a rather rowdy game of dice!

Ok, this is weird. I hit this thing and it refused to budge. I had to get one of the guys to pull it off. Nasty….but interesting. hehe

Culinary skills.

Grandkids are ALWAYS hungry!!

Monkey Munchkins

Playing Mass outside.

A little hayride.

Angelo was St. Joseph Cupertino for the All Saints’ Day Party

Gemma was St. Cecilia.

Our friends, Anthony and Isabel’s little guy, Caleb.

Caleb and Rachel….St. Clare and St. Luis IX. Cute!

Grandpa and Nathaniel

Often Angelo gets up early before everyone else, says his prayers and then proceeds to set this up or some other adventure or craft he is working on. He says he likes to get his stuff done when it is quiet. 🙂

Gabe Harder came and worked for my husband for 1 month. He survived and here he is with Rosie and Margy still smiling! 🙂

The following photos are of our friends in New Zealand, Gerard and Rachel, and their lovely family!

Precious!

Proud Dad!! Precious Baby!

Hats are IN at the VanderPutten’s. Virgina, our Mad Hatter, has the hat craze! Here’s some of the hats she has made in the last 2 weeks….

Another hat…

Hannah’s hat.

Nettie’s hat

Margy’s hat

Gemma’s hat

Johnny and Benjamin’s hats.

Dominic, waiting for his hat!

Lovely ladies, lovely hats!

😀

heehee

LINKS, LINKS, LINKS…..

The following links are a smorgasbord of some interesting, inspiring, delicious or just fun stuff that you may find valuable in your own life. It does not mean that I endorse the whole site, just the individual posts that I have linked to.

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Visit The Catholic Gentleman for a couple of great articles!

“The once coveted iPaq was eventually disintegrated by a shotgun, but it taught me an important lesson that day: Don’t get too attached to the toys this world offers. For truly, all temporal things are more or less like that once shiny and dazzling iPaq. They are thrilling for a moment, but then quickly forgotten, to be used one day for target practice, or worse yet, to be left rotting in a landfill…”

“…..if you’re a man who wants to be pure, you’re going to be involved in a constant warfare against lust. Everything from toothpaste commercials to weight loss ads have some sort of sexual spin. After all, as they say, sex sells.”

“Thanks to technology, and perhaps due to Christianity’s low status in our modern liberal age, there is a fantastic treasure trove of good, traditional Catholic books available for free or near-free. Below are links to valuable and timeless Catholic texts (including those written by great saints and Fathers and Doctors of the Church) that you can read and download for free. Take advantage of this – they have changed my life and will change yours, too. Tolle et lege!”

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You might be surprised when you read this list that you may be guilty of one or two of them.

“Being alert to ways spouses can be unfaithful to their mates is vital. These 10 behaviors can lead to the ultimate unfaithfulness. Learn them and be on guard.”

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This lady ended this article by saying she married a hard-working man and she needs to thank his parents. I feel the same way. Maybe you will get a pointer out of this list that will inspire you make kids work up a little sweat!

These festive ideas will fulfill all your Christmas decorating needs:

Pinecones appear seemingly everywhere at our feet this time of year and yet we hardly notice them. Here are some creative and easy ways to bring nature home for the holidays.

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Here is a quick craft idea for some festive snowflake and ornament window decorations to add another crafty layer to your holiday decor. The inspiration came from this clever puffy paint doily tutorial from Doodle Craft.

“When you’re sitting down for that wonderful feast on Thursday, here are 6 interesting Catholic Thanksgiving Facts you can share with your family. Print them out and read them aloud over some pumpkin (or pecan) pie!”

“My goal this week is to share my top 5 Advent devotions. In Western culture, the season of Advent is usually sunk under the weight of Christmas commercialism. In today’s podcast we’ll explore how to sanctify the season of Advent so that we can prepare a happy and holy Christmas.”

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Are you having a crowd for Thanksgiving dinner? Let Taste of Home help you here!

We love listening to the Daughters of Mary on Youtube. For all the bad of technology there is also some great, like being able to listen to beautiful Catholic Hymns and all the great links you posted. Thanks

I apologize if you’ve seen this quote before but it fits your beautiful blog so well –

“To a great extent the level of any civilization is the level of its womanhood. When a man loves a woman, he has to become worthy of her. The higher her virtue, the more noble her character, the more devoted she is to truth, justice, goodness, the more a man has to aspire to be worthy of her. The history of civilization could actually be written in terms of the level of its women.”
— Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen